Blue and Green: You Don't Have To Be Alone
by PartyGod Douglas
Summary: The continuation after 'This is Our Home'. Peridot is left distraught after losing Lapis and the Barn all in one. To help deal with the depression she is feeling and the deep-seeded loss, Peridot connects in ways with the other gems that give her a better understanding of herself and help her grow as a person. This is a companion story meant to be read in tandem with "Another War."
1. After Back to The Kindergarten

**You Don't Have to Be Alone**

 _Chapter 1: After 'Back to the Kindergarten"_

"Okay. Now let go of me you two."

Amethyst and Steven had been side hugging Peridot for a good five minutes after Peridot finally let go. Peridot was starting to get annoyed by their affections just ever so slightly.

Only slightly though because it was also sort of nice.

"I'm not letting go until we get to our stop. How about you, Amethyst?"

The only response Steven received was a deep, bear-like snore. Steven and Peridot looked down at the purple gem who had fallen asleep during the side hug thing with, Peridot.

"Haha! Oh, Amethyst," Steven said in response.

Peridot couldn't help but crack a small smile. Lapis leaving was still fresh in Peridot's mind as it had only been a little over a week. Peridot closes her eyes and her hands clench together tightly in her lap as she relives the moment when Lapis looked back at her while she was taking the barn. Peridot didn't know what Lapis was seeing in that moment because she was too shocked by what the blue gem had been doing. Peridot could feel the hurt in her blue wife's eyes. Lapis didn't want to do what she did but…

She did it anyway.

A tiny tear formed in the corner of Peridot's right eyes and she quickly slipped a couple of her fingers under her visor to wipe it away hoping Steven wouldn't notice.

" _No more crying,"_ Peridot thought. _"I've cried plenty in the last week."_

Peridot looked over at Steven who was staring contentedly out at the roaming fields and countryside, and then over towards the sleeping Amethyst noting that the purple gem was fully asleep.

"Steven. Can I ask you something?"

Steven was rocked out of his content staring and brought right back down to reality real quick.

"Sure, Peri."

Peridot hesitates for a moment before speaking, trying to find the right way to word this question. It's been getting easier since living on Earth but it is still difficult sometimes for the green gem to decipher or try to explain what she is feeling emotional after having lived hundreds of years cutting out almost all emotion.

"Why would someone do something that they don't want to do?"

Steven's soft expression fell a little bit. His eyelids falling just a bit as he glances away from the green gem.

"Usually, at least what I have found in the past couple of years going out on adventures with gems and learning more and more about Homeworld and learning more about my mom, for better or for worse, is that the most common reason someone would doing something they don't want to do is to protect the people they love."

Steven lets himself fall back and lie down on the bed of the train.

"Even if they have to lie to you, or even if they have to kill someone."

Steven thought briefly about what Blue Zircon had said before Yellow Diamond poof-ed her. What she said made a lot of sense, but if a diamond killed another diamond wouldn't everybody know about it? Steven hadn't really had a chance to rack his brain about the possibility of his mom being innocent after all. He didn't know what to think or even who to really talk to about that possibility. None of the gems would give him the time of day, they would think Steven is just trying to avoid dealing with the idea of his mother, the all-loving Rose Quartz, taking a life.

"STEVEN!"

"Huh, what? I'm sorry Peridot. I just got distracted thinking about Homeworld stuff. Were you saying something?"

Peridot gave a signature turtle frown before speaking up, "Yes, I was asking if leaving would also be something someone would do to protect someone."

Steven sighed.

"Yeah, I guess. That could be something someone would do. I tried to leave Connie and keep her out of my life in order to protect her but that worked for all of a day before I broke down and couldn't do it anymore."

"So why did you choose to keep her in your life even though she would be objectively safer out of it," the green gem shot back.

"Really, she's the one who chose to stay. If she never came to the temple looking for me I might have very well let her go."

Steven curled up, pulling his legs in from dangling over the side of the train.

"She wanted to stay despite knowing how dangerous it was. She wanted to be a part of 'my universe' because she cared about me more than necessarily being safe all the time."

Steven wanted to grab the words back as soon as he said them. He had definitely said the wrong thing again and he and Amethyst just got Peridot back to a functioning state.

"So what you're saying is Lapis was more concerned with keeping herself safe than she was about me and this planet," a dark tone reflecting off of Peridot's voice.

The green gem shifted her head into her hands.

"I want to say no, Peridot but that is what happened-"

Peridot snapped her head towards the boy.

"Thank you, Steven. Now please discontinue trying to make me feel better as you are only succeeding in making things worse."

Steven sat up.

"Peridot, you didn't even let me finish. She did leave, but Lapis' situation and Connie's are two completely different stories. Connie hasn't really had any reason to leave up until I surrendered myself to Homeworld a couple weeks ago. We became close friends and she made friends with you and all the gems. She got to learn about magic and aliens. She got to become a crazy, amazing sword fighter, but it's just different for Lapis. She's suffered. She's suffered for thousands of years because of the last war she got caught up in and I can't imagine being trapped and unable to do anything about it for that long."

Peridot looked down, ashamed, "I couldn't either."

"I don't necessarily agree with what Lapis did but I know exactly why she did it. And that's sometimes all you can hope for."

The green gem is quiet after Steven says that. Steven is left feeling uneasy in this silence, still feeling guilty about basically being the reason Lapis left, and uncertain if he did more harm than good when it came to this talk with Peridot.

"Do you think she's ever coming back?"

The gem's voice pierces through the silent air, but Steven is feeling less and less comfortable by the moment. He wants more than anything to tell Peridot what she would want to hear, but he can't bring himself to do it. These last few months have done a lot to temper Steven's personality and because of this lying is out of the question.

"I don't think so. She seemed pretty determined about leaving and-"

Steven was going to continue giving justification on why she wouldn't be coming back but was halted by the sobbing of the green gem.

Steven closed his eyes and made a decision.

"-And although it's unlikely she'll come back on her own. I think its safe to say that after all of this Homeworld stuff has blown over we'll probably have a really cool spaceship that can go really fast so we can go look for her!"

Steven thinks for a moment.

"Provided we also survive."

Steven smiles widely at a sniffling Peridot looking up at him with teary, hopeful eyes.

"How does that sound, P?"

Steven barely had time to react before Peridot plowed right into him giving him a full-on hug.

"Thank you, Steven," was all the small, green gem could think to say.

"No problem. Until then though, just try to focus on other things. Like our new garden! I'm not sure where we'll put it quite yet but we'll figure it out day by day."

"True after our debacle with Andy, I did research into Earth land ownership and it's weird. All land is usually owned by somebody like how the barn used to belong to Andy before he gave it to us."

"Day by day, Peridot. We'll get through it."

They end their embrace and Steven notices they are getting close to where they need to hop off. Steven goes to wake up Amethyst.

"Amethyst, wake up. We have to hop off the train now."

Amethyst doesn't say anything in response, opting instead to roll off the edge of the moving train.

"AMETHYST," Steven and Peridot scream in unison. Steven does a high jump and uses his floating ability to land softly on the ground near Amethyst. Peridot jumps off and tries as she might she is not the most graceful gem and she falls flat on her face.

When Peridot pushes herself off the ground she notices a purple hand in front of her face offering to lift her up. Looking a bit higher and she sees a playful grin and Peridot can't help but blush a little bit.

"Wow, thanks."

"It's no problem, P. I know you can help falling for me."

Steven laughs at Amethyst's pun, while the purple gem helps Peridot up. The green gem brushes herself off before starting to walk forward.

"Well, let's get back to the temple, everyone."

 _~back at the Temple~_

"So, are you sure you don't want to come back and sleep in my room, P? I've got a really soft pile of junk lying around somewhere with your name on it!"

Peridot raises her hands up in front of her body.

"No thank you, Amethyst. Steven and I have already worked out a system where he gets the use the bathroom as he needs it but I still stay in there."

Amethyst looked noticeably disappointed.

"Are you sure, Peri? You liked being cramped in that tiny bathroom instead of the infinitely vast majesty that is my room?"

"Yes," was all Peridot could think to say.

"Well okay, whatever dude."

Amethyst turns herself around and walks up to the temple do. Her gem glows briefly and a purple divider rips open the temple do revealing Amethyst room littered with piles of random junk gathered over the years. She raises a hand to say goodbye before disappearing into the magical chasms of the Temple.

Peridot turns to Steven.

"Steven, do you need to remove waste from yourself at all or perform any daily cleaning rituals before I retire for the night? "

Steven cringes a little and blushes.

"Please don't say it like that, Peridot."

Steven sighs.

"But yes, I would like to after the day we've had today. I'll be quick."

"Take your time, Steven."

Steven heads to his bathroom/Peridot's room and closes the door behind him. A satisfying click sounds off meaning he locked the door.

Peridot is now standing alone in the middle of the dimly lit room. The only light piercing into the room being the light illuminating off the sunset. Peridot looked out the window towards the beach and the sun was just barely touching into the watery horizon leaving the world in a dim, dusky light.

Peridot moved towards the screen door and went outside to the deck. The green gem proceeded to descend the stairs down to the beach. She walked closer and closer to the water until she got to the tide's edge. Feeling the wet sand underneath her feet, Peridot decided to sit down, with her butt just outside of the tide's range but her feet just within.

Peridot gazed at the sun as it beat its hasty retreat into the watery grave. The twilight growing ever so much more by each passing moment.

"I'm so alone without you, Lapis. I'm so alone and although it has gotten better the past week or so it's still so hard to think that you're not here."

Peridot clenches sand in her hands.

"And although I understand why you left it still hurts me so much. But as alone as I feel now that you're not here…that's not necessarily true. I don't have to be alone. I've got Steven, Amethyst, and all of the other gems- even Pumpkin here with me."

The tide brushes in on Peridot's feet.

"I know you can't hear me, and I know you're probably several star systems away by now but I just hope that you know that you don't have to be alone."

Peridot unclenches her hands of the sand and rests her palms gently back on the sand.

"I don't know when you're coming back, or even if you are coming back but I just hope while you're gone you have someone there, that you have a friend. Because you've already spent so much time by yourself."

The sun fully exits behind the horizon as Peridot finishes saying, "And you shouldn't have to spend another second feeling like that ever again.

Peridot hears a familiar bark and turns around only to be immediately accosted by none other than her favorite pumpkin dog.

"Ohhh, Peridot. It's nice to see you out and about!"

Peridot looks past her pup and sees Pearl and Garnet approached her on the beach.

"What were you two doing with Pumpkin?"

"We were just taking her on a walk. Dogs shouldn't be cooped all day whether they are pumpkins or not," Pearl said, her motherly overtones seeping through.

Garnet adjusted her shades, "She was pooping pumpkin seeds in the house and Pearl didn't like it."

"I-It's just not very sanitary."

Pearl's cheeks grew a little flushed while Garnet extended a hand to Peridot.

"Coming back in, Peridot?"

Peridot looked at the hand extended to her.

"Sure," she exclaimed taking the permafusion up on her offer.

Garnet lifted Peridot up off the ground and the trio plus Pumpkin set off towards the house as the night grew fast.


	2. A new Opportunity

_**Chapter two: A New Opportunity**_

" _Why don't we try growing literally anywhere else? It is sure to work better than the kindergarten."_

These words that Amethyst said, give or take, which were ringing through Peridot's mind as she sat on the toilet deep in thought. Pumpkin curled up near the green gem's dangling legs while she focused on these words trying to logic a solution out of them. Every word feeling as though it held some encrypted key to help Peridot discover the solution to her current predicament. The silence was eventually broke wide-open by Steven calling out into the house.

"Bye everybody, I'm heading to the boardwalk for a little while. I shouldn't be too long!"

Those words were followed by the familiar sound of the screen door hitting it's frame with a 'whack' and Steven's heavy footsteps marching down the step of the house.

" _Maybe I should ask Amethyst what she means, because there are too many possibilities."_

The green gem asserted to herself, hopping off of the toilet and walking out of the bathroom door, leaving the door open as to allow Pumpkin to come and go as she pleases. The green gem walked to the center of the house and noted the three crystal gems getting on the warp pad readying themselves to head out.

"Yo P-dot! It's good to see you not moping in the bathroom."

Peridot smiled at the purple gem's comment and Amethyst put her hands behind her head and smiled back.

"I've actually been giving what you said a lot of thought Amethyst, but I have some questions I need answered," Peridot bluntly states.

Amethyst goes to talk, but Garnet puts a hand in front of the purple gem's mouth.

"I'm sorry Peridot but we don't have time. There's corrupted gem activity in a nearby area and we have to get there before it gets out of hand. "

And in and instant the three gems are beaming away. Echoing back through the warp is Amethyst apologizing, leaving Peridot no closer to figuring out what she needed to.

The three gems appear on the warp pad that is nearby the barn, or rather where the barn was. Amethyst hits Garnet on the hip, frustrated.

"Garnet, why'd you warp us away so quickly. Peridot's had it rough recently – what if she really needed something?"

Garnet starts walking off onto the crass fields, "she'll be fine," she says casually adjusting her visor which is a notable action even from Amethyst's perspective behind the leader of the crystal gems.

"C'mon. For some reason there's a corrupted gem hanging around the wilting crops around where the barn used to be."

Amethyst and Pearl eventually start following behind the fusion gem. Pearl interjects her thoughts.

"It is such a shame all of Peridot and Lapis's hard work is wilting away. They spent so long cultivating it and working together and now it's going to fade away into nothing."

Amethyst looks down, sadness evident on her features.

"No work we ever do is ever wasted. Everything we do and everything we feel goes towards something, and sometimes we need the old crops to wilt away for something more beautiful to grow in its place."

Garnet's cryptic message gives both Pearl and Amethyst a little more pep in their steps, the two gems eventually catching up to walk side by side with their friend and leader instead of trailing behind.

"Now where did Steven go? He said he was going to be on the boardwalk," the green gem says to herself as she is just passing by Funland arcade.

A mere few steps later a sleek yellow vehicle that is very low to the ground blazes by Peridot at alarming speeds considering this is where humans walk, and Peridot ended up plopping onto her green butt, glaring angrily at the yellow car peeling around the corner – her teeth razor sharp. Peridot holds in her anger though and picks herself up continuing down the boardwalk as she was before.

"Steven," Peridot yells out, quickly noticing the half-gem standing still in the middle of the boardwalk. Steven doesn't seem to react as he is staring down at his phone.

"Steven," Peridot follows up with a normal, speaking-level voice as she gets right next to him.

Steven shakes out of his trance, "Oh, hey Peridot. Where are you heading?"

"I was actually looking for you Steven because I needed to talk to you."

Steven went to speak up but then felt his phone buzz in his hand and desperately looked to see who it was from.

"Kevin! Okay, I got the address. I'm really sorry Peridot but I have to go do something really important. We'll talk later," Steven says as he starts running to the temple.

"But, wait, STEVEN!"

Steven doesn't stop.

Peridot cups her hands around her mouth to try and amplify it, "STEVEN WHERE SHOULD I GARDEN?!"

Steven turns around to look at Peridot while doing a small, floaty jump, "Just pick a place," and before he lands he turns back around to be looking towards the temple again.

" _Just pick a place?"_

Peridot looked all around her and saw nothing my wooden walkways and buildings. The green gem, determined to find a new place, went deeper into the center of town. In the middle of the town there was a small local park with a couple of straggling boardies hanging about doing nothing in particular. Peridot started running for the grassy area.

Making it to the part Peridot immediately got onto her knees and started sticking her hands into the ground. With her hands she pulled out two clumps of dirt with grass lining the top of each. She put the two clumps next to her face and gave it a proper sniff. She smiled widely, pleased at this discovery.

"This soil will be perfect! I need to go get my tools," the green gem shouted to no one before running off back to the temple.

Peridot returns to the little park area with a gardening hoe slung over her shoulder and a bag of corn seeds in hand. There are two men wearing dark suits and a much shorter human gathered around the spot Peridot started examining. As Peridot approached the scene, one of the suited men looked over at the green gem and pointed at her.

"You! You're the one that guy over there said he saw digging up the ground here at the park," the man gestures behind him with his thumb to point out a man wearing an eyepatch sitting on a bench with a suitcase right beside him.

"Of course, how else do you expect me to plant anything productive with all of this grass in the way?"

"AHA! You admitted it. We found our perpetrator Madame Mayor. Should we nab her?"

The shorter woman turns around. Her features old and tired on her dark skin but she is sporting a small smile while looking at Peridot.

"Now, now boys. I think we can still work this out. Let me talk to her."

The woman's speech was fluent but didn't sound native. Peridot impatiently waited for this all to sort itself out.

"Young lady, what is your name?"

Peridot squinted at the old woman mayor, "Peridot. But I can assure you I am much older than you."

"Ah, maybe in how old you are, but I've lived on Earth longer than you."

Peridot simply nodded in reply. Her logic was infallible.

"Now, Peridot. Would you please follow me to my office? I would like to speak to you about what you are doing here."

Peridot looked past the woman to her spot she dug up. The two men step in front of her field of vision and crack their knuckles.

"It seems I do not have a choice."

"Not true. But follow me if you want to speak," the woman says walking away. Peridot quickly turns herself around to follow the woman and the two men trail behind them as the group heads for town hall.

The group makes it to Mayor Nanefua's office. The plaque outside is just a piece of paper taped over where the original plaque must be. Upon entering, one of the two suited men takes a small stack of what appear to be phone books and places them on the seat while the second man takes Nanefua and places her rightfully on top. The Ghanaian woman stares down the green gem now sitting uncomfortably across the desk from her.

"So Peridot, I don't believe we met before. I am mayor Nanefua. I run Beach City."

"O-okay," Peridot shoots back at the elderly woman, confusion seeping from her response.

"I want you to tell me why you want to grow corn in my park?"

"Steven told me to just pick a new place to grow and the soil composition of that area was perfect for growing crops from initial observation."

The Ghanaian woman smirks, "And you just needed to plant it right this second?"

"I have been dealing with losing someone very important to me. We used to grow plants a lot, and I'm just trying to get back into it to obtain some sense of normalcy in my life."

Peridot's eyes widened after she had finished. She didn't mean to be so incredibly honest but something about the older woman's demeanor just brought it out of her. Nanefua smiles in response, "Well, I can tell you wouldn't be very good in politics. You're too honest."

Nanefua stands on her books. The chair swivels a little causing the two men to panic slightly and reach towards her but she puts an arm out in front of each of them to reassure them she is fine.

"But I'm too honest too and now look at me! Mayor of Beach City," Nanefua shouts and plops back down on her books.

"I'm not really sure what you're talking about."

"That's fine," Nanefua responds putting her hands together and shutting her eyes to concentrate, "I think there is a way to work this out."

"What is it?"

Peridot started tapping the sides of the chair she was sitting in impatiently.

"I cannot let you dig up my park, but I can offer you a vacant lot where you can grow whatever you like whenever you like."

Peridot clenches her fists in excitement, "That would be GREAT!"

"But," Nanefua quickly inserts.

"Ugh, there's always a catch."

"It will also be a space for anyone else in Beach City to grow whatever they want to because this will be a community garden! Where anyone can grow what they want and we share crops and foster a communal spirit!"

"I will not share my spac-"

The green gem stops halfway through her sentence. Her mind is taken back to all of the happy times where she was gardening and growing crops with Lapis. The blue gem's form and smile invading her every thought in a matter of seconds.

" _Maybe it would be nice to have other people to garden with?"_

"Okay, but one condition!"

"Hit me with your best shot, Peridot."

"I get to be the leader of this 'community garden' and get final say of who gets to grow there and what gets grown. Certain crops and plants will be detrimental if grown too close to each other and I know exactly how to best organize it all."

Nanefua puts out her hand for shaking, "I think we have found a compromise, Peridot."

The gem looks down at the woman's hands then back to her. With a small satisfied smile the gem takes Nanefua's hand and the two shake in agreement over the community garden.

Peridot looks over the vacant lot she has been granted to grow her crops. It is a lot surrounded by buildings on three sides and is filled to the brim with garbage and other people's litter. The grassy is patchy and unkempt and weeds are spread out everywhere. The sound of footsteps behind her alert Peridot to turn around. There stand four humans.

One she recognizes as Steven's dad Greg who said "hi" again and then went on to explain he needed to find something to pass the time nowadays. The second is a young man wearing a sweater who said he needed to understand life in all of its forms in order to truly rise up as an actor. The next two were a mother and son. The mother said she was just there to make sure her son didn't cause too much trouble and the mute little boy simply handed peridot a mint plant that was growing in a flower pot.

Peridot took the mint plant and looked down at it. This was the start of something new.

"Okay everybody. We need to clean up this garden, it can't be looking like a kindergarten in here."

Everyone seemed to understand Peridot but likely only Greg knew what she was referring to. The five of them began cleaning up the vacant lot and as Peridot worked she was able to smile a little being able to reclaim this piece of herself back.


End file.
